A new way of reaching out.
| posted 8/15/2007
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Trust is built by actions, not words.
"We're supposed to proclaim the kingdom of God and demonstrate the kingdom of God," says Soong-Chan Rah, pastor of the Cambridge Community Fellowship Church near Boston. "Evangelism for our generation means learning to do both.
"Part of proclamation means that we speak the whole gospel of Christ, not just the Westernized version of it. We also need to be good at demonstration—bringing healing to our sick society and at-risk neighborhoods, bringing wholeness not just to the spiritually lost but also to those who are under economic oppression."
One of the most fundamental ways to represent God's kingdom is by being kind to the disaffected, even when we have genuine disagreements with the way they choose to live. For Valerie Zander, who works with a team to develop neighborhood churches in the San Francisco area, this means working with people who are homosexual.
"The question is, 'Do I offer genuine friendship and companionship to people who are gay?'" Zander says. "If you're a believer, the answer to that question is yes.
"I have a lesbian friend who told me, 'I'm expecting.' She was watching closely to see how I responded. Would I tell her she shouldn't be raising a child, or would I be excited for her?
"I had to ask myself, Does my friend want my approval? Does giving it to her salve her conscience? Will she say, 'Oh see, look, she's a pastor's wife and she thinks it's okay?'"
Zander came down on the side of kindness.
"I decided in my life, in profound ways, I believe children are a gift from God. I truly believe that I would not be the kind of person I am becoming if I had not had children. So I said, 'I'm happy for you because children are a gift from God.'"
In whatever way we respond, the one thing we can't do is ignore the trust issue.
"It's often the question behind the question," says Richardson. "Because a lot of these are accusations against the church. Whenever you try to address them without addressing the trust issue they can't hear you," he says. "So I always start by listening and validating the questions and identifying why people would have trust issues.
"I'm not going to defend Christianity's marriage to Western European domination. I don't care where you come down on specific issues, such as sexism, for instance. You have to take seriously the trust issues people have with the church.
"Let people know you've heard them and that you have compassion for the hurts people experience."
Isn't that just your reality?In Evangelism Outside the Box, Richardson tells about an encounter with Bob, a philosophy of science student at the University of Illinois. Bob was dating a girl from Richardson's InterVarsity group, and she asked Richardson to talk with him.
After Richardson began discussing evidence for the resurrection and Jesus' desire to have a relationship with us, Bob responded with an extended monologue of his own.
He touched on Einstein's theories and introduced the findings of scientists Niels Bohr, Max Planck and Werner Heisenberg. Then Bob got downright evangelistic.
